Bayer Leverkusen will have a championship team again, despite the sale of key players and the change of head coach. This was stated by the sporting director of the "Aspirins" Simon Rolfes to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, quoted by BTA.
Since the beginning of the summer, Bayer has parted ways with its big star Florian Wirtz and right winger Jeremy Frimpong, who have joined Liverpool, as well as central defender Jonathan Ta, who will play for the German champion Bayern Munich. Head coach Xabi Alonso, who led Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title in 2024, took over at Real Madrid, and former Manchester United and Ajax manager Erik ten Hag was appointed in his place.
"The new coach Erik ten Hag will have a quality squad, but we are building a team that has room for development. This is the beginning of a new path," said Rolfes.
"We need to develop a winning team. When Kai Havertz left, we didn't have a complete player to replace him. But we took 16-year-old Florian and with years of work he developed. We are happy with what we got for him," he added.
According to the German press, Liverpool paid 140 million euros for the rights to playmaker Wirtz.
"It's a step forward for him and I think it was right for him to go play abroad," Rolfes added.